Roar of the Crowd
by Xuriph
Summary: A mysterious fight, a mysterious fate join the adventures of a champion learning more than just sword skills to survive. This is my first story, hope you like it.
1. Prologue

The roar of the crowd was known to be addictive, easily able to overpower people that were weak willed. Many had lost their lives in the ring because of overconfidence or rage, even desperation groped out at the contenders, trying to pull them in. The ear wrenching screams of joy and laughter filled the crowd, catching many on their first battle, often making it their last.

John Knew this, he knew it very well. the constant voices that ran through the halls and echoed around him told him so. Each spectator adding to his mind crippling madness, yet he knew he was sane, at least that's what his mind was telling him. Though that might just be his brain trying to cope.

The constant drum in Johns chest didn't help, his fight was coming up, his third this year. It was only the end of the rain season, It should be green and lush in the world, but all he could see were stone walls that seemed to close in and the constant flicker of a wax candle. His room smelt strongly of iron, he couldn't tell if it was from the smelting of weapons down the cells halls, where the slavers gathered or the crimson that seemed smeared across each and every wall. John pulled at his hair tightly, trying to stop the rushing sound in his ears. he snapped up as he heard keys clattering at his cells door

It was time for the fight.

* * *

The air was sharp and cold, but felt free and embracing, but you should never trust the air, weakened muscles, sharp painfully breath that makes your lungs feel like collapsing, your eyes start to water as your lips freeze over. John knew not to trust it. "Don't trust anything, don't trust anyone, don't trust anything" he muttered his mantra himself.

John glanced down to the weapons in his hands, a chipped short sword and a buckler shield, about as large as his head. his thoughts strayed from the area around him as he stared at his weapons, his mind thought of "what if", what if he had never been captured what if he had escaped. john imagined living on a small farm with a caring wife who watched over two little angels, a girl and a boy. He would go home to his beautiful wife and his smiling children after a long hard day at work "dad, dad!" they would yell as they ran to hug his knees, his wife would hug him and comfort him after he put in his efforts at the farm, a nice happy family.

The screams and cries of the audience brought him from his dream like state, the howling alerting him of what is coming, the air somehow felt colder, like shards of glass. Each breath built a lump in his throat that he couldn't swallow.

The horrid sound of metal on metal scraped into everyone's ears as the large rusted gate wrenched themselves open.

The sound of soft steps came from the gate, a short childish figure emerged from the shadows in the gate.

John dwarfed the figure, standing at 5'11 whilst the figure stood 4'10, as the childish figure emerged John noticed the claymore it dragged behind it. The kid seemed to be a boy, shocking toxic green eyes shone on the pallet of pale skin. Raven hair outlining his face.

The claymore looked absurd being dragged by such a small person, the sword was easily the size of his body. John didn't even know if the kid would be able to swing it. A large mark traced wherever the claymore was dragged. Both competitors stood across from each other. The slavers gleamed down from their perched platform, each one observing with mild amusement.

John glanced at the kids face again, he was immediately met with an intense stare.

"My name is Jonathan!" He shouted over the harsh yelling from the spectator's.

"Perseus!" The kid snapped

John didn't want to fight the kid, he never wanted to fight, he was just a toy used by it's owner. He didn't find the treasure, get the girl or ride into the sunset. John was here, he knew this, this was the only thing he could fully grasp in a sea of madness.

One of the more portly slavers, being Impatient shouted "the fight begins, only one may leave!"

John steeled himself.

A blur flashed by his eyes, the world seemed to spin, everything became faint, he shuttered end coughed, his eyes dimmed. John lost hold of the short sword he had held. His shield smashed across the ground, a large sword seemed to have found home in his chest. The world flipped and John landed on the ground with a thud.

John heard chanting faintly In the background, "Destroyer! Destroyer! Destroyer!" The world faded away.

John had lost his third match.


	2. Chapter 1

Perseus stared at the lifeless corpse with his sword lodged in it, in this world it is kill or be killed. The more you kill the more you live, Perseus grew up with this philosophy, it was all he knew. Power is everything.

He reached forward and grabbed the handle of his over sized blade, he dragged it out of the limp body. Perseus did not hold remorse for his opponents, nor did he hold hatred, he viewed each opponent equal to him, he was victorious just because he wanted to live more than the others .

One of the slavers stood up from his chair on the perch, this time it was a thin man, one swollen eye matched a long crooked nose and dried like itchy hair, his eyes held an evil mischief that danced to a wicked song, his teeth yellow and rotten off of self indulgence and gluttony, "Perseus has won once again" he stated eagerly, his voice betraying his future intentions as his eyes glinted with chaos and malice.

His voice raised to talk over the cheering the audience "there is no rest on the road to success! Another fight shall take place tomorrow evening, a seat shall be reserved for those of you who pay after the next few fights!"

And the day resumed.

* * *

Perseus lounged in his cell, head resting against the cold cobblestone walls. "Seven days... just seven more days" he steeled himself for what was to come. The room seemed to get smaller everyday, Perseus could feel the heat rising in the cell, sweat dripped down his brow as his skin shone in the flickering candle light, his cell was placed right at the end of the hall near the burning pits, the subtle sound of screaming could be made out over the smashing sound that was constant through the area.

Every five years an auction was held to sell slaves that could fetch a high price, Perseus had been looking forward to this since his first fight. Tomorrow was his last big fight before the auction, then he just had to rest.

Perseus closed his eyes and laid back on his plain, stone bed, hopes high for the coming future.

* * *

Crunching under the sore stiff feet, legs dragged in weight as he stepped across the deep marsh, the earth trembled under him, an awful telling of dark tides ahead. Perseus stood still, he shifted his chin to the moon and gazed at the stars, the stars gazed back piercing his very being, a dreadful feeling kept him silent, the only noise he could hear was the croaking of frogs and the flutter of ravens in the distance, they circled in the sky as if their eyes found their next victim. A murder of crows, a very appropriate name for something so dreadful, the dead was their victim often prying at carcasses and other likes of the term. The trembling of the earth grew dim and in its place the deep thrum of an engine churned, growling in anger in hate as if to lash out at the young man trekking through the marsh, Perseus moved onward. He approached a large clearing by a cliff side, he stood, he stopped his onward trek, not for the dropped that he saw, no his eyes were on something that invoked so much fear into his body that it shutdown, so scared did he feel that he dare not move.

A twisting amalgamation shifted before his eyes, breath halted, he dared not blink for the creation of hell was upon him, the thing that could barely classify as a creature bubbled and pulsed skin bloating in odd places that could not be defined a bloated bubble grew out of its side and burst, ichor flew from the bulge as a long twisted appendage shot out of its body, it started groping around in the air as if trying to find something to hold onto. Perseus stumbled backward as the monster drew closer, the air grew thick and suffocating, two hollow eye sockets molded from the creatures front, skin tore in place of a mouth, the eyes, though no eyeballs existed and only sockets, seemed to glare at him, another hand burst forth and grabbed onto his ankle, dragging him to the earthen floor, his eyes bulged at the sudden movement and he jerked and screamed, his nails dug into the dirty wet grass until he could not feel his hands, yet Perseus's efforts were in vain, the grotesque body bent its arm as tearing fleshing and cracking bone rung loud, the large opened wide to invite the young meal, a wafting rancid smell wafted through Perseus's nose, as he looked on in horror at the vile bubbling crimson fluid in it's mouth as large jagged teeth shone threw like spears in a phalanx, the grip on his leg released, pain enveloped him.

Perseus shot up with wide eyes and messy hair, he slowly shook himself from his stupor. The older he got the worse and more constant the nightmares became, every time it's always some fearful event in a complex story.

time kept ticking by, every minute felt like an hour as Perseus slowly ate his daily rations, he had to stay healthy said the guards, each had a major betting problem and used him as their main tool.

Finally after a long wait a guard stepped through the dimly lit halls and stopped at his door, he unlocked the door to Perseus's room and opened the creaky metal door, Perseus walked slowly over to the guard and walked right past him a hand grabbed onto his shoulder "I bet twenty silver on you, my weekly wage, you better not lose" He simply nodded and left, he could feel fresh air brush against his skin as he headed down the route he knew best, the arena.

a slowly creeping light enveloped him as he approached the open area, the sun was already high in the sky, as eager to watch the fight as any spectator here.


	3. Chapter 2

p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Somewhere in the middle of an unknown land filled with myths that would scare any sane person from visiting this far off land, under the cover of these fears laid a slave organization going by the name of The Blood Sanctum. To The Blood Sanctum common morals and humility did not exist, the money that funded this evil organization came from the constant slave trading and arena combat they practiced, many underground mob bosses and big shots thought it a worthy investment to visit the odd arena. Normally the arena had a constant flow of income, the greedy old men that run The Blood Sanctum should be able to feast on different exotic animals whilst bathing in the pleasure of the flesh, but recently their income had started to plummet, the reason? 'Perseus'. His strength exceeded common sense and his willpower was frightening, he thrived in the arena and none could stop him./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The betting that had taken place in the arena was very beneficial to the slavers, the bidders would pay the betting post a sum of money and if they won the bet, the sanctum would pay a large portion of what was bet from the losing sides pool to the winning bidders, this led to the irresponsible betting of many corrupted nobles who thirsted for wealth, after the betting was finished the sanctum would siphon some money and fulfill the transaction./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"this was all well and good, it even allowed them to expand their influences to the dark underground network of almost every country, this had been working for a long, at least until 'he' came, they had to sell him as soon as possible! He was so well known to the spectators that rarely a single cent is bet on the opponent, this led to the slavers having to pay with their own money./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The battle was finally about to commence and the crowd couldn't wait, screaming and cheers rung loud as a young man with a pale complexion emerged from the entry tunnel, light shone down and covered the area in a golden glow, the light grey bricks were stained with dust, grass crept from the cracks in the brick as if to remind everyone of the spring season that could hardly recognized in the remote location. On the other side of the arena, opposite of Perseus, came an absolutely monstrous bear, thick tree like legs sprouted from a huge scared and tough body, massive teeth jutted out of a large maw big enough to eat an adult man. two large red eyes clouded with rage, its body so big and requiring so much blood you could audibly hear the pumping of its large heart. /span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Beast stood on its hind legs, a looming shadow cast itself on the other side of the arena, it opened its large mouth and let out a mighty roar, the crowd was amazed by the massive show of vigor, would Perseus lose? /span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The idea that he would win was drifting away. The crowd couldn't fool themselves into thinking that Perseus would win anymore./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I bet 20,000 gold on the bear, who did you bet on?" People kept told each other where they placed their money, the crowd was heating up, the bear was in a much better position. /span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Perseus held his blade tightly fingers gripping and his knuckles turning white, he took a deep breath in and out./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The bear loomed over to Perseus and held a hand up high, "oh shi-" said Perseus without time to vocalize his thoughts, a large paw crushed the ground where he had been previously standing, he had the luck of being able to out maneuver this creature with his agility but that wouldn't be enough to stop the beast that was currently eyeing him down like a piece freshly cooked meat, the hand came down again and Perseus dodged./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I can't win this if this is a contest of stamina it just isn't possible" Perseus was on the ropes, he couldn't keep dodging every attack, and if he slipped up once he would be obliterated by the crushing blows that kept raining down./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Perseus kept dodging, dust flying everywhere, suddenly the blows stopped, the bear slowly backed away. The bear started to claw at the ground with its hind legs, almost like a bull. /span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With a large intimidating roar the bear tumbled forward, Perseus tried his best to dodge to the right but the bear was too fast and strong, it slammed head first into his rib cage, a crack resounded through arena, gasps came from the audience./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Perseus flew through the air "Ghak!" he yelled, his body hit the ground and he rolled through the dust, His face smeared with blood./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He grabbed his chest in pain "I can't die here, I still need to reach freedom!" he started to cough and gag on blood in his throat./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The world was fading around, he looked to his left and saw the large bear loom over to him, he didn't even have enough strength to lift his arms, let alone run, "I am going to die, aren't I" he said, hoping that someone would say no, someone would say " you will live Perseus" someone to give him the comfort that he longed for. But as he stared at the bear, his hope melted away./span/p  
p style="line-height: 1.56; margin-top: 9pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And finally black encased his vision/span/p 


End file.
